The present invention relates to a lifting apparatus for tilting a wheelchair and occupant to facilitate services to the wheelchair occupant including hair-washing, dental work, periodically adjusting the occupant to a more relaxed, reclining position, etc.
The number of persons occupying wheelchairs, whether on a temporary or permanent basis, numbers in the hundreds of thousands. Even though they are not ambulatory, these persons still need services which the remainder of the public take for granted, such as dental work, hair care, etc. Furthermore, wheelchair occupants have to remain in an upright, sitting position for extended periods of time. This results in increased muscular tension and reduced circulatory function.
It has been common practice in the past for a wheelchair occupant to be bodily lifted from the wheelchair and placed in a hydraulically operated dental, hairdresser's, or other reclining chair. Due to the awkwardness of such a move, the fact that the wheelchair occupant is often incapable of assisting, and the fact that many people in wheelchairs are further restrained by colostomy bags, urine bags or other attachments to their body and/or wheelchair, it generally takes two or three people to move an occupant in this way.
In a nursing home, personnel doing such moving are typically required to be certified and licensed and, consequently, the provision of sufficient personnel for such frequent moves is both labor-intensive and extremely expensive. In other environments, such as beauty or barber shops and dentists' offices, no trained personnel at all are available for such situations. As an additional complication, many persons in wheelchairs are simply not in good enough physical condition to permit frequent moves of this type.
As a consequence, the need exists within the industry for a simple, inexpensive, lifting apparatus which permits an occupied wheelchair to be pivoted to a desired tilted position during procedures such as hair-dressing and dental work or when the need exists for simply placing the occupant in a more relaxed, reclining position.
It is also important to provide such an apparatus which can be operated by personnel untrained in moving patients, such as dentists or hairdressers.
It is also important to provide secure support for both the wheelchair and the occupant's head when the wheelchair is pivoted.
Finally, it is desirable to provide an apparatus for tilting a wheelchair that can rest directly on the floor of the room where the person with wheelchair is to be tilted without requiring special ramps that would make the patient too high or require placing part of the apparatus beneath the floor level. Furthermore, the apparatus is preferably relatively portable so that it can be moved into position for use when needed and removed when not in use.